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Feature
The
Food & Drink of Korea
Etiquette
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The Korean
style is to eat quickly and conversation is usually limited to
comments of how delicious the food is. Unlike Western restaurants,
everybody eats the same food and the communal side dishes are placed
in the middle.
" At
first, taste soup or kimchi juice, and then try rice or other dishes.
Use spoon for rice and liquid foods, such as stews or soups; use
chopsticks for other foods.
" Do not
make noises with spoon or chopsticks hitting the rice bowl or other
food containers.
" Do not
hold the rice bowl or soup bowl in your hand during the meal.
" Do not
poke around the rice or side dishes with the spoon.
" Do not
pick out what you don't like or shake off seasonings.
" Do not
leave any trace of food on the spoon while eating.
" During
the meal, uneatable parts such as bones or fish bones are quietly
discarded by wrapping them in a paper so that others won't see them.
Do not put them on the table or floor.
" When
coughing or sneezing during a meal, face the other way from table and
cover your mouth with your hand or napkin.
" Eat the
rice and side dishes from one side.
" Do not
use your hands to pick at the food.
" Chew
food with your mouth closed and do not make noises while chewing.
" Do not
leave the table while eating.
" Do not
read a book or newspaper or watch TV while eating. Do not reach
across the table for distant food - ask a nearby person to pass it to you.
" Use an
individual plate for foods served for a group, and also for sauces
such as soy & vinegar sauce or sweet & sour hot pepper
soybean paste.
" Try to
keep pace with others by eating not too fast or too slow. When having
a meal with the elderly, wait for them to put the spoon and
chopsticks on the table at the end of the meal.
" At the
end of the meal, pour sungnyung (boiled water in the rice cooker or
scorched-rice tea) into the rice bowl and drink.
" After a
meal, put the spoon and chopsticks on the spot where they were placed
first and put used napkins on the table after folding it little bit
if they are big.
" When
using a toothpick, cover your mouth with one hand and discard it the
toothpick afterwards so others won't see it. Hot and watery foods are
placed on the right side and cold and dry foods are placed on the
left side.
" The
rice bowl is on the left, and soup bowl is on the right, with other
bowls placed in the middle.
" The
spoon is on the right side and chop sticks are behind the spoon and
placed a little towards the outside of the table.
" Place
kimchi dishes in the back row, stew dishes on the right, sauces in
the middle of the front row, meat dishes on the right side, and
vegetables on the left side.
Remember
all that and you haven't got a problem!
The Korean
respect for elders dictates that everybody waits until the oldest
person starts to eat. It is considered rude to smoke in front of
someone older or to leave the table earlier than the oldest.
And watch
out - the oldest person usually pays for the meal!!!.
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